FiveThirtyEight: Making Sense Of Trump’s Two Big Moves On North Korea And Tariffs

1. Trump is leading — Trump often seems like a weak and disengaged president, with his ideas downplayed and/or ignored by Republicans on Capitol Hill (his infrastructure proposal) and even his own staffers (his Democrat-friendly positions on immigration and guns at recent bipartisan meetings). But on tariffs and North Korea, Trump appears to have taken control. He took advantage of the fact that Congress doesn’t have to sign off on either of these decisions and that even if his staffers want to rein him in (as they sometimes do), that becomes a lot tougher when he publicly announces a policy. [...]

Even Trump’s bold moves this week demonstrate the extent to which he is still operating within constraints. While Trump aides initially said his tariffs would have no exceptions, the final policy exempted Canada and Mexico as the president seemed to bow to complaints from congressional Republicans. [...]

4. Trump’s moves are only opening bids, so a lot depends on how he follows up — Outside of a few Democrats running in red states, it’s hard to find many people in Washington who agree with Trump’s tariffs. Economic experts on the right and left strongly oppose them, arguing that they will start a trade war that hurts the U.S. economy. Trump now owns the course that tariffs take, whether that lurches the country toward economic warfare or not.

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IFLScience: This Is What Eating People Does To The Human Body

In 1961, a young Australian medical researcher called Michael Alpers headed to the Eastern Highlands of Papua New Guinea, inspired to merge his two passions of medicine and adventure. Here, he began to investigate a mysterious condition suffered by the Fore people, a scarcely touched tribe that lived deep in the mountains and practiced cannibalism. [...]

They called this condition "kuru". Every year, kuru would kill up to 200 people of the tribe, sometimes in startling circumstances. Starting with tremors and an impaired ability to work, sufferers go on to develop a total loss of bodily function, depression, and often emotional instability, sometimes exhibiting itself as hysterical laughter. When word of the disease spread to the west, the media sensationally dubbed it “laughing death”.  [...]

So, eating human brains might not always be the best of ideas, even before you get into the whole array of blood-borne illnesses that you could contract, from HIV and hepatitis to E. coli and Ebola. However, here’s where the story takes a turn. A study published in Nature in 2015 found that the Fore people who regularly ate brains had developed a resistance to prion diseases, a discovery that is still helping scientists understand degenerative brain diseases, such mad cow disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, and some cases of dementia.

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IFLScience: 13 Things You're Doing That Make People Dislike You Immediately

Results showed that the "sweet spot" for likability was about 300 friends. Likability ratings were lowest when a profile owner had only about 100 friends, and almost as low when they had more than 300 friends. [...]

But psychologists say that disclosing something too intimate — say, that your sister is having an extramarital affair — while you're still getting to know someone can make you seem insecure and decrease your likability.

The key is to get just the right amount of personal. As a 2013 study led by Susan Sprecher at Illinois State University suggests, simply sharing details about your hobbies and your favorite childhood memories can make you seem warmer and more likable. [...]

In an effort to impress friends and potential employers, some people disguise bragging as self-criticism. This behavior, otherwise known as "humblebragging," could be a turn-off, according to a recent study from Harvard Business School.

In the study, college students were asked to write down how they'd answer a question about their biggest weakness in a job interview. Results showed that more than three-quarters of participants humblebragged, usually about being a perfectionist or working too hard.

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The Guardian: Ireland's shame: the death of Savita Halappanavar – The Story podcast

In 2012, a pregnant Indian woman died in an Irish hospital. Her death shocked people all over the world. The circumstances of her final days outraged the Irish public, leading to the launch of a movement that would eventually play a role in the recent, historic referendum announcement.

Who was Savita Halappanavar? How did she die? And what can her tragic story tell us about abortion laws in Ireland?

In this episode of The Story, Danielle Stephens speaks to Kitty Holland, the social affairs correspondent at the Irish Times who broke the story, Savita’s friend Dr CVR Prasad, the chair of one of the inquiries into Savita’s death Prof Sir Sabaratnam Arulkumaran and a legal expert, Eoin Carolan.  

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BBC4 Profile: Staffan de Mistura

As the United Nations' Special Envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura is said to have one of the toughest jobs in the world. Edward Stourton talks to the people who know him best to find out what drives him and how he is navigating one of the most complex conflicts in recent history.

Born in Stockholm to a Swedish mother and an Italian father, de Mistura went to primary school on the island of Capri, where he was taught by Catholic nuns who instilled in him a strong faith and a desire to help other people.

Growing up in a privileged and aristocratic family, he went on to attend a prestigious Catholic secondary school in Rome, where friends say he knew from an early age that he wanted to work for the United Nations.

His diplomatic career includes stints in some of the world's trickiest war zones - from Sudan to Kosovo, Iraq to Afghanistan, and now Syria. He has a distinctive sense of style and is known for his charm and love of the finer things of life. We also hear about the 'linguistic acrobatics' and the wry sense of humour that have helped him survive in hostile situations.

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